At exercise class on Monday, one of our most vibrant members breezed in. Vitality vibrates off her. She walks so fast, she could be a New Yorker, not a native Texan. She runs on the treadmill. She does the eight pound free weights (I currently am at four and starting five.) She is violently curious, indefatigably enthusiastic, and constantly on the go. She hates exercise, she groused once to me. But she had a heart attack a few years ago, so she perserveres.
They had an oldies station on, and the woman on the next mat and I began talking about some of our favorites. Anita breezed up, exchanged a few comments, said, "Bye, Lucy!" and left.
The woman laughed. "Lucy!" she said with another laugh. "That's not my name. She's my neighbor." And, she said, there was a story with this.
Anita is allergic to wasps. I guess it's all the rain, but they are bad this year. About a month ago, Anita came running across the street (not recommended when fearing anaphelactic shock), waving an epi pen in the air.
It was early, and the narrator hadn't even had her morning coffee yet.
"You've got to shoot me," Anita cried. "Shoot me! a wasp stung me."
She pressed the epi pen in her neighbor's hand and promptly dropped her pants.
"Wait a minute," the woman said. "I've never seen one of these before."
She carefully read the directions, took off the lid and plunged--the needle into the palm of her own hand. She had held it upside down. She got the full dose. Anita didn't get any.
Her husband drove BOTH women to the emergency room. Anita was fine. She was treated in time, and felt very well in a few minutes. The woman who had accidently shot herself with the epi pen, however, shuddered and shaked and experienced a rapid
heart rate. She had to stay a couple of hours. She felt AWFUL.
And that's when Anita started calling her "Lucy".
Huh. I have my own ideas about who Lucy is.
But I admit, this woman made an awesome Ethel.
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6 comments:
Ouch, she's lucky she didn't lose her hand!
I've seen Epi-pens accidentally injected into thumbs and fingers, with the end result usually being amputation of that digit.
Yikes! You'd be surprised what they expect teachers and school librarians (me, thankfully retired now) to do nowadays--we had a very brief training in using an epi pen because we had students who were allergic to bees. I had no idea they could be so dangerous.
Love your description of the fast moving lady. The hotter it gets, the slower I move...
Lucy and Ethel...my two favorite people. What a story, and it does, indeed, sound like an I Love Lucy episode! Glad it all turned out OK!
OW! Epi pens are part of NBC gear. I always dreaded the thought of using one.
Oh, the joy of it. Thanks for the comments. My computer has been down again. My new provider involved buying a modem then getting IT support to activate. These people have patience AD his ownself would admire, and we have CONTACT! I learned from this if I ever have to administer an epi, to grab it from the side and think me thoughts for a little adrenalin push.
Mean thoughts. Not me thoughts.
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